The Beacon
by Jack Of All Spades
Summary: Claire is a wealthy child, heir to the Farron fortune, but she isn't satisfied. When everything is given to her, when all can be bought and had, there is still an emptiness that can't be filled, until one day, she stumbles on a discovery from her childhood that changes everything. A story about breaking through the expected and fulfilling your dreams. FLight.


_A simple fairy tale._

**OOO**

A small child ran through the high grass surrounding the estate, sprinting as hard as she could. The sun was beginning to set, making the trees, the ground, the sky, even the very air turn golden.

It was Claire's favorite time of day.

As she hurtled up the hill, she slowed down, checking to see if anybody was following her. She dropped down to the ground, waiting patiently for the inevitable.

Rustling was heard, and the tall grass shifted, revealing a smaller girl that looked remarkably like Claire. She appeared to be only six or seven years old, bright blue eyes searching fearfully.

Claire paused, gathering herself, and then pounced on her sibling.

Serah screamed as her sister jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. She tried to fight back, small fists hammering on her older siblings side and back, but it went unheeded. "Claire! Get off me!"

"Stop following me!" Claire retorted, shoving Serah away.

Serah wiped her eyes—the surprise and harshness of her sister's words getting the better of her. "Why can't I go with you?"

Claire crossed her arms. "Because it's my hideout. You can't come into somebody else's hideout."

"But—,"

"No, Serah. We share everything, I found this place, so that makes it mine." The older girl immediately felt guilty as Serah looked down at the ground, sniffing and rubbing the scrapes that their scuffle made. "Look, you're not even old enough to leave the house yet—,"

"You're only two years older! Mom and Dad said you couldn't go out by yourself either!" She yelled back angrily.

She looked at Serah, the tears and anger that clouded her young face and she surrendered to the guilt.

"Okay, listen." Claire knelt down next to her sister. "If you keep this a promise, I'll let you see my secret spot when you're older."

Serah, wary, hesitated. "You promise?" Her blue eyes met her sister's, begging.

Claire's gaze softened. "I promise." When Serah nodded her head in acquiescence, she said. "Go back home, okay? I'll head back later."

"Ok," Serah stood up, rubbing her eyes. She abruptly lurched forward to hug her sister. "Be careful." She then turned and started running back to the house.

Claire watched her go until she was far enough away for her to believe that Serah was going to follow through with her promise, and then continued down the hill and through the countryside.

**OOO**

She had found this place when she was around Serah's age, upset at her parents and intent on running away. She thought that the whole world was like the surrounding area of her home, and she foolishly thought it was possible to live by herself, because who needed parents when they took all the fun things away when you accidently broke your mother's favorite statuette when playing?

When Claire was five she had made it this far, but when she met her first barrier, she had trembled and stared in awe.

In front of her was a giant, thirteen-foot wall made of solid leaves. A hedge, if she recalled from her tutor's teachings. Why it was all the way out here, she didn't know, nor did she care—because on that fateful day she first explored the world outside what she knew, Claire had immediately returned back home.

She didn't understand what had made it so scary—perhaps it was just extremely tall compared to her, or maybe it was because it was just _there_—imposing and ancient. Whatever it was, it made her wary.

But now, she was going to overcome her fears. She was going to go through the hedge—simply to prove that she could.

Swallowing tightly, Claire edged forward, one hand stretched out. As her fingers brushed the leaves, she jumped backwards, ready for anything to happen.

When nothing happened, the child reached for the barrier again, this time with both hands, and pushed aside the leaves, carefully stepping inside.

It was dark in the foliage, and thorns kept scraping her body, but she pushed forward, surprised at how thick the wall of leaves was. She eventually reached the other side, glancing back to see the bent and broken leaves that marked her trail. Seeing that she could find her way back through the massive wall, Claire turned back around and continued.

Around her were more walls, twists and turns of giant barriers of green—and it was even more terrifying than the wall she encountered. It was oppressive. Tall sentinels looming over her, blocking out everything. Claire shivered, hugging close to a wall before peering around a corner.

It was empty, and there were paths branching off both left and right. Shifting her feet, Claire looked up to where the sun was shining just above the wall to the right. She decided that was where she would go.

And that was where her journey into the labyrinth began. Claire took twists and turns that she couldn't hope to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, left, left, right, right, right, left—she was hopelessly lost and the sun was setting quickly. Her leisure stroll, and her habit of hugging walls and checking her corners were forgotten as she sprinted through the green maze, not caring which direction she went. The thought of never escaping, dying in here, monsters finding her—it sent her into a panic and she blindly sprinted on, tears making trails down her dirty cheeks.

Just when she was about to give up completely and collapse on the ground, she looked up and what she saw halted her sobs and tears and the panic calmed, replaced by curiosity.

In front of her was a large clearing, about fifty yards long. There were tall trees, flowers, a small pond, and one bench surrounded by smaller trees, covered in flowers that Claire didn't know the name of, nor had ever seen before. And there, on the bench, was a woman.

She wasn't like any woman that Claire had ever seen—she had a bright, blue silk wrap covering her body, her tan skin revealed to the cool air. Fur pelts dangled off of her belt, hovering over the ground as the woman leaned back on the bench, resting against the tree that was just behind it. Her brunette hair faded into a dull red, and appeared wild and free as it blew with the wind. Her eyes were closed, and so, tiptoeing quietly, Claire circled around her, to try to come closer to this mysterious woman.

Slowly, she crept closer, occasionally breaking out in a sprint to her next spot of cover. From tree to tree, she made her way to the woman on the bench, until she was finally at the opposite side of the tree that the woman was leaning on.

Claire, her eyes wide, tried to steady her breathing. To her, she sounded like a jet taking off, and so she tried to inhale as little as possible, gathering the courage needed to peek around the trunk of the tree to get a closer look at the stranger.

Her clothes caught on the rough bark of the tree, as she stayed as closed as she could. One step, then another, and another, Claire didn't think she'd ever see her, but then she could and her breath halted and—

Malachite eyes stared deeply into cerulean and all Claire was thinking was gone, there was simply the woman and her and she didn't know what to do. It was like Claire couldn't look anywhere else—those eyes blocked everything out with their beauty, harshness, fury, sadness.

But then, Claire heard the woman speak with a lilting melody. "You shouldn't be here."

"I—I…"

"How did you even get here?" Now the harshness of her voice broke the spell and Claire stumbled backwards as the woman stood up and advanced toward her. "This place is supposed to be—," She was interrupted mid-sentence as she was abruptly yanked back. Claire followed her gaze, which had shifted to her upper-right arm, where a bright, glowing light circled the flesh.

Claire looked back up at the woman's eyes, which were still riveted by the chain of light. "Kid," The woman spoke quietly, a finger reaching out to touch the chain. "You need to leave."

Swallowing down her fear, she asked. "Why?"

"Some things you aren't meant to know." The woman replied, looking back at the small child in front of her. "You stay here long enough, you won't be able to leave—now go."

"I don't know the way back," Claire hurriedly said, wanting to stay longer even with what the woman had said. "What's… what's your name?"

The woman sighed, going back to the bench and slumping down on it. "Fang."

"My name's Claire." She said, warily walking closer to Fang. "Why are you here, Fang?"

Fang eyed the little girl with amusement. "Didn't you hear a word I said? If you stay here long enough, the curse will pass to you, girl. Go home."

"But what about you?"

The innocent question threw Fang off, and she shifted in her seat. "I'll be fine. I've been here…" she paused, the corner of her mouth turning up in a mockery of a smile. "For awhile."

"How long is awhile?" Claire asked, tentatively sitting on the bench beside the woman and idly kicking her feet.

Fang smiled at the child's antics. "Long time—years even." She shook her head, clearing her head and shaking the amused smile off. "Look, you have to have a family or a home to go back to—,"

"I can't just leave you here." Claire interrupted, eyes narrowed. Her stubbornness was returning quickly once she realized that the woman, Fang, was a friend.

"Does it look like I can go anywhere?" Fang asked, shaking her arm as the light followed her every move. "Trust me, if I could, I'd leave in a heartbeat, but I'm bound here. You," The woman pushed the girl off of the bench for emphasis, making the child take a few steps away from her. "Need to get home."

Claire crossed her arms, determined. "I don't know the way back. So I can't go anywhere."

Fang raised one eyebrow and pointed to the pond. "Go look in the water, you'll find a map." When the child hesitated the move, Fang. "Would you really leave your family behind to wonder where you were? They must be worried sick." Serah came to Claire's mind, and she bit her lip. "Go on." The woman urged.

As she made her way to the pond, Claire wondered how this place came to be, and how the woman ended up here, why there was a chain of light that wouldn't let her go farther than a few steps away from the bench. Her thoughts were interrupted as she actually looked at the pond closely, letting out a small gasp. Further away, it appeared to simply be calm and normal pond, but close up, she could see that the water was—

"Magic." Claire breathed, crouching closer and looking more intently. The water was similar to a normal pond around the edges, but closer to the middle it raised several inches, of it's own accord, and formed a watery maze that was similar to the green hedges that surrounded her and Fang. She could see exactly where they were in the maze, directly in the middle, surround by nothing but convoluted, twisting corridors. She blinked as she saw one part of the water model was bent and broken, exactly where she had come barreling through the maze to get to the inside. Turning back around, she said. "Do you know magic? What is this place? How'd you—,"

"Slow down, kid. All those questions would take too much time to answer, now do you see the way to get back?"

"Yeah, but I can't remember all of the turns."

"I doubt anyone could. Repeat what I say." Then she spoke in a different language, beautiful, even more so with her lilting accent. Claire struggled with the pronunciation, and they had to retry a few times, but once she got it right, a light shone on her palm, and she watched in amazement as lines of light covered her flesh, forming a map to leave the maze. "There you are."

Claire scratched at the skin, watching as the light reflected off of her nail. "But what about you?"

"I told you. I have to stay here."

"But…"

"I'll be fine." She smiled at the child to ease her.

"You promise?"

Fang hesitated. "I would, but I never take the risks of breaking promises."

Taking a moment to ponder what Fang had said, she went to argue, but started violently when a booming roar was heard. Her eyes went wide, and she looked to the woman fearfully, who had surged out of her seat and was searching for the source of the noise.

"Go, now!" Fang barked at her.

Claire finally listened and scrambled out of the clearing, following the directions on her hand. Roars would tear through the air, seemingly to come closer and closer to her, and she sprinted harder in that moment than ever before in her young life.

Then she was at the broken wall, shoving the branches and the leaves aside and was on the other side, and turned to look back to see if the monster was chasing her, tripping in the process.

She was still for a moment before pushing herself up. Her body screamed in protest, tired and sore from running for what seemed to her like miles. She looked back to the wall of green, the smashed in passageway, and thought she could faintly hear the dull roar of the monster that had been chasing her.

**OOO**

"Momma?"

"Yes, Claire?"

"… You know the fairy tales you told me? About the prince and the princess?" Claire climbed into her mother's arms, laying her head against her mother's chest, comforted by the constant heartbeat.

Her mother smiled, amused. "Which one, honey?"

"That's just it. In every story, it's always about the prince saving the princess, right? What about other fairy tales?" Claire closed her eyes, thinking back to Fang still trapped in the labyrinth.

"What do you mean?"

Claire pulled away to look at her mother. "What about the fairy tales where there isn't a prince, and the princess can't be saved?"

"The princess is always saved, it just takes time."

Her mother kissed Claire on the forehead and tucked her in, leaving the child to ponder her thoughts. She watched the moon and the stars outside of her window as she lay under the heavy blankets, a reassuring weight from the horrors and mysteries of today, and wondered if Fang was watching the heavens also.

_The princess is always saved, it just takes time. _

Claire fell asleep then, dreaming of princesses trapped in labyrinths, filled with monsters prowling the shadows, of sharp turns and the quiet rustling of leaves, of chains of light crisscrossing, of a pond with endless depth, of malachite eyes filled with pain, and of a voice that sang a different language.

**OOO**

_Named for A Fine Frenzy's 'The Beacon'._


End file.
